KSE-100 gains over 500 points after final-hour buying over IMF news

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) ended the first trading session of the week on a positive note, with the benchmark KSE-100 index registering a gain of over 500 points amid reports that the country had reached a staff-level agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

After a lacklustre session, the KSE-100 was driven in the final hour by eager investors, seemingly rejoicing on reports that the IMF loan programme would now be revived.

Earlier, the market witnessed range-bound activity throughout the trading session, dropping to an intra-day low of 41,227.84, a fall of 106.17 points.

However, across-the-board buying was witnessed after reports of the IMF staff-level agreement started making the rounds with the KSE-100 hitting 41,970.59, a net increase of 626.58 points.

At close on Wednesday, the benchmark KSE-100 Index settled with a gain of 518.76 points or 1.25% to end at 41,862.77.

KSE-100 extends gains ahead of monetary policy announcement

“Investor-sentiment improved on reports that a staff-level agreement has been reached between Pakistan and the IMF,” said Capital Stake in its post-market comment. “The tranche is expected to be SDR894 million, equal to $1.2 billion,” it added.

A report from Topline Securities stated that initial investor-interest was witnessed in E&Ps as the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) approved a price increase in the range of 43%-235% for domestic gas consumers and industries where OGDC, PPL and SNGP closed higher.

On the economic front, the rupee posted a significant decline against the US dollar in its first trading session after the Eid break, as the currency closed at the 210 level in the inter-bank market on Wednesday.

As per the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the currency settled at 210.10, a depreciation of Rs2.19 or 1.04%, against the greenback.

Meanwhile, volume on the all-share index inched up to 164.83 million from a mere 99.1 million on Thursday. The value of shares traded jumped to Rs6.49 billion from Rs4.04 billion recorded in the previous session.

TPL Properties was the volume leader with 14.94 million shares, followed by Sui Northern Gas Pipeline with 13.58 million shares, and Oil and Gas Development Company with 9.98 million shares.

Shares of 325 companies were traded on Wednesday, of which 212 registered an increase, 90 recorded a fall, and 23 remained unchanged.